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Dispatches from Paros: Climate Changes Everything


Last week, I mentioned that I would occasionally veer from the course I set out for the relaunch of sustainablog, and that you’d see some of those exceptions this week. The reason — I’m currently in Greece attending the Papandreou foundation’s annual Symi Symposium. To stay on top of the developments here, I’ll be doing quite a bit of cross posting between Green Options and sustainablog. Here’s the first post I published on GO about the symposium — more will be coming shortly.

This week, we’ve got something exclusive for you: an inside look at a major symposium on climate change hosted by Greece’s Andreas G. Papandreou foundation. The Foundation invited me to participate in the event, and I just arrived on the Greek Island of Paros a few hours ago.

Needless to say, I was very excited by this invitation, and not just because I get to spend a week in the Greek Isles and still call it work. Papandreou’s annual Symi Symposium brings together great minds from around the world each year to discuss solutions to global issues. The participants include politicians (several members of various parliaments, and one president), business leaders, academics and representatives of non-governmental organizations. This year’s theme is “Climate Changes Everything,” and I’m definitely looking forward to hearing the perspectives presented on addressing the global climate crisis.

Some minor travel mishaps kept me away from the symposium’s first session, “After Kyoto: How to Design a New Global Accord.” Now that I’m here, I’m definitely looking forward to upcoming sessions and workshops on energy alternatives, social entrepreneurship, the “Green Economy,” and climate change in the developing world. I’ll be providing details throughout here, and may even give podcasting a try (there’s a studio for it here). I’ll also take plenty of photographs… everything is worthy of a picture here!

The Papandreuo foundation has graciously picked up the tab for me to attend and cover this event.

Image: The view from my hotel room’s back porch…

Cross posted at Green Options

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